Unmasked
by TheNightmirage
Summary: A year after the successful resolution of the Geth/Quarian conflict, Garrus sees Tali's face for the very first time. Pure fluff.


It is sometime in early October by Earth's standards. The house is quiet in the early morning. Garrus, never one to sleep more than a few hours at once, stands at the bay window overlooking the lake nursing a mug of dextro-amino friendly coffee.

He hears Solana moving around in her own bedroom, and he feels instantaneously grateful to her once more. There is much work to be done on both Palaven and Rannoch. The times he gets to see Tali in person rather than on his omni-tool screen are more precious to him than he is willing to admit. His sister has offered her home to them in one of rare weeks both Tali and Garrus have off from overseeing the reconstruction of their home planets.

He finds that even when his hands and body are occupied in the often-demanding labor required to basically rebuild half of Palaven, his thoughts are always on her. He almost finds his ever-growing affection for the Quarian alarming. It is just one more thing he has gotten involved in that has managed to anger his father. Why couldn't he find a nice Turian woman, his father demands. Be like everybody else. Be with someone who understands what it is to be Turian.

But no one else in the whole universe is like Tali. Garrus is sure of this. She has matured exponentially in the three years since he met her: from the young pilgrim who had a tendency to babble about engineering jargon to a confident, charismatic Admiral of Rannoch. He knows he loves her, but he cannot quite find the courage to whisper the words to her just yet.

With his drink gone, Garrus makes his way back to the guest bedroom he and Tali have shared for the past few days (another no-no in his father's book since the older Vakarian seems unable to understand you don't really get to be intimate with a Quarian until your relationship is pretty strong). At first Garrus was concerned the inability to be intimate beyond hand-holding and snuggling would be strange for him; he has been with his share of turian women, often just in one-night stands.

But like everything else about their relationship, it just seems different with Tali. He doesn't mind the creeping slow pace of their relationship: it has been almost a year since the defeat of the Reapers and Shepard's indoctrination and he still has not seen one inch of Tali's skin.

She stirs as he enters the room. Unable to see her face, he is unsure if he has woken her. Undaunted, he climbs back into the warmth of the bundle of blankets. She turns to face him, the dim glow of her mysterious eyes just visible behind the facemask.

"Where did you go?" she asks sleepily.

"On amazing adventures that you weren't invited to."

"Hmmmph," she says, in mock sadness. "Well, good thing I know all the excitement follows me. You didn't do anything fun at all."

"It's true," he concedes. "You've caught me."

A comfortable silence passes between them. He reaches over and takes her hand in his, smirking slightly at the noticeable difference in size. She is so tiny but with a personality to rival a Krogan.

"How are things with the geth?" he finally asks.

"Amazing," she replies. "We were so wrong all along. If Shepard hadn't talked down the Fleet…"

"She did, so don't even worry about other outcomes."

"Yeah. I didn't get a chance to tell you, but have you heard that some of my people are volunteering to be linked up with geth to boost their immune systems?"

"I've heard it mentioned on the extranet. Isn't that one who started the process right after the Reapers were destroyed able to go without his body suit for several hours even when he isn't on Rannoch?"

"He is. It's really exciting…and strange. But I didn't tell you that I signed up to do that too."

He props his head up on his arm to better look down at her.

"You signed up for the immune system boosting link with a geth?"

"I did."

Oh, how she has changed, he muses. The Tali he'd met three years ago would have been sick at the idea of linking up with a geth. But perceptions could change…his own views of Krogan certainly had in the past few years.

"When do you start?"

"Three months ago," she admits sheepishly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he insists, taken aback by her answer.

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I have to keep the body suit on, but my facemask can come off for about an hour with minimal risk."

"That's great! Have you been doing that…I mean taking your facemask off for a while?"

"No, I haven't at all. I wanted…" She gives a nervous laugh. "I wanted you to be with me when I did."

"Tali…"

"Can I do it now?"

He involuntarily clicks his mandibles in nervousness. He knows he loves her, and it would take a lot to change that. But what if she looks like a krogan? Or worse…like him?

"I mean, I didn't…if you feel okay with…I don't want you to feel like you have to around me…"

He stammers over his words, unsure of what response she wants out of him. See her face? Of course he's always wanted to, but it feels like a big step. This is why he always stuck to hook-ups before her; a fling partner never pulled this romantic crap with him. He is terrible at romance.

"You're…you're sure it's safe?" he asks, taking a deep breath to steady himself.

"I can't go running around outside without it, but just for a little while inside it's okay."

"And you want to?"

"I've kind of been waiting for you to be with me…"

"Okay," he agrees. "Shepard told me you're pretty cute when she saw you take off your mask after Legion died."

She gives him a playful slap of disgust before sitting up. He too crawls upward until they are sitting facing one another in the center of the bed.

"Okay," she says, her voice noticeably higher than usual. "Here goes."

Her three fingers tremble as she reaches up and around to the back of her neck to begin unclasping the germ-resistant glass between them. Garrus finds he is holding his breath in anticipation.

The last clasp clicks free, and Tali hesitates, hiding behind the security of something she has had on her whole life. Garrus reaches up and takes wraps his hands around hers.

"Ready?" she asks.

He nods. She presses against his hands and brings the purple-tinted glass down to rest in her lap.

He lets out a breath in awe. She is more human-like in her appearance than he anticipated. A slightly flattened nose protrudes from in between her high-set cheekbones. Long horizontal openings run across her cheeks and down into the space underneath her chin, as if the skin has simply been delicately carved away by a sculptor. Her eyes are a deep brown set beautifully against her amber skin.

"Can I…" He raises a tentative hand toward her face.

"Please."

He reaches out and cups her right cheek in his hand. She closes her eyes and sighs at the first contact.

She feels like the Earth material silk. Garrus is used to the rough exterior of Turians; their plates and mandibles hardened against the Palaven elements. She is so soft he almost fears she will break at his touch.

"Tali," he breathes. He cannot stand the thought of removing his hand from her face. She is so lovely that he is unable to find any words other than her name.

Her left hand goes to his face, and they sit there, simply looking at one another for several long minutes. She smiles through tears of joy.

"Garrus," she finally speaks into the silence.

"Hmmm?"

"My immune system should be able to stand some uh…closer contact."

"What?"

"Please kiss me, you idiot."

He does, allowing himself a moment to admire the feel of his face touching hers before their lips meet. She lets out a soft pant at the contact, and he suddenly wants to rip the bodysuit off of her too.

They hear Solana padding out around in the hallway, and they break apart for fear of the moment being intruded in upon. Rather unwillingly, Garrus withdraws his hand from her skin. She grins at his visible reluctance.

"Easy, Vakarian," she teases. "It will be a while longer before you see anything else."

"Then I guess I just have a lot to look forward to.

She leans forward and presses her nose to the spot where his neck begins. He shivers at the touch.

Finally, she pulls away and puts the mask back on.

"That you do."


End file.
